Team Tobi
by Lucillia
Summary: Obito finds that he's not above a bit of petty revenge when he steals something from Kakashi that he knows that the man will dearly miss out of spite. Three somethings actually. Three somethings whose names happen to be Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura who are now the unwilling students of "Tobi" and unwilling Genin of Amegakure after having been taken while returning home from Wave.
1. Precious Little Genin

Though Obito who was going by either Madara, Tobi or no-one these days never really kept track of him, Hatake Kakashi had made such a splash in the ninja world that Obito couldn't help but hear about what he was up to, even when he didn't want to. The fact that Hatake Kakashi had finally taken on a Genin team had been so shocking that the news of the team's existence had made its way to the furthest corners of the continent with an alarming alacrity. There was much speculation on the sort of team that someone as impressive as Hatake Kakashi would take on, and Obito found himself curious despite himself as he heard theory after theory. That the "last of the Uchiha aside from that Itachi character" was on the team was pretty much a given, but the other two students are ciphers as far as everyone who spreads news of the team are concerned.

Eventually, after his curiosity had gotten the best of him and he'd heard a rumor that Kakashi's new Genin team had left the safety of Konoha, Obito decided to go take a look. Seeing the team up close was almost sickening. There was the broody orphan who stood aloof, and the hyperactive loudmouth who pursued the girl who pursued the broody orphan. It figured that Kakashi would pick a dark mirror of their team that placed him in the Minato role. From the looks of it, Kakashi had taken the team to punish himself since sitting in front of the Memorial Stone for days on end wasn't doing it for him anymore.

As Obito was about to turn away disgusted, he saw Kakashi pick up the boy whose life had almost come to an end moments after it had started and ruffle his hair. Buried in the somewhat pained smile Kakashi had on his face as he played with the hyperactive loudmouth as Minato would've done him was _fondness_. Kakashi actually _cared_ about this team. He actually cared and wanted them around for more than yet another bout of self-flagellation.

Wasn't that just _sweet_.

As Obito watched the team make its way back to Konoha from the direction of Wave country, he found that he wasn't above pettiness. Because those three brats belonged to Kakashi and Kakashi cared about them and actually wanted them, Obito felt a mean spirited desire to take them.

That being said, when Obito made up his mind to do something, about the only thing that would stop him would be the literal end of the world. There was the small problem of the promise he'd made to Itachi regarding Sasuke, but if he recalled the promise correctly, what he'd actually agreed to was to not _physically harm_ Sasuke and to not _talk to_ Sasuke for as long as Itachi was alive. There was no mandate to stay out of the boy's presence if one reviewed the exact wording of his promise to Itachi. Sure, it was Rules Lawyering to the most obnoxious extreme which would have even your own teammates lobbing friendly fire at you if you weren't strong enough to pound anyone who could object in the dirt, but...

* * *

Kakashi was goofing around with Naruto who reminded him so much of Obito and Minato that it wasn't funny. Sure, looking at him was painful at times, most of the time actually, which was why he'd avoided the boy for the vast majority of the last twelve years, but it had gotten to the point where he couldn't imagine not having Naruto around in the few short months that he'd had his Genin team.

Sakura called Naruto an idiot the way Rin would've done Obito as Naruto tried to grab her on his way past and silent as ever Sasuke pretended not to be amused by what he was watching out of the corner of his eye as Kakashi swung a yelling Naruto around in wide and wild arcs. Eventually though, Kakashi checked the level of the sun, realized that he would have to get the show on the road if he wanted the team in Konoha by sundown, and stopped swinging the boy about in favor of picking up the pace.

As Kakashi was carrying Naruto who was halfheartedly trying to free himself down the road back to Konoha by his ankle a figure in black who had a green scarf wrapped around his neck and an orange spiral mask with a single eyehole appeared on the path in front of him and his team.

Quickly dropping Naruto, Kakashi signalled for his team to get into formation and moved in front of them in a protective stance. Everything about the man in front of the team had screamed Shinobi. And, this was a shinobi he didn't recognize.

"Oh, don't worry." the stranger said in a deep voice that seemed to carry a promise of pain for anyone who opposed him, "Your little students will be safe with me. The same cannot be said for you however."

It was at that point that the stranger attacked, and Kakashi discovered an interesting fact. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't land a blow on the stranger because each and every hit and kick and jutsu went straight through him.

Slowly and inexorably, the fight with the selectively tangible stranger who could hit him but could not be hit in return got further and further away from Kakashi's students who eventually disappeared from sight.

* * *

"Heh, heh, heh, that was too easy" Obito said as he gathered up Kakashi's students who'd been too inexperienced to put up much of a fight and dragged them into his Kamui dimension. Sure, Sasuke was unconscious, but that had been the result of a genjutsu, so he hadn't _physically_ harmed the boy.

As soon as Kakashi's brats were situated, Obito dispelled his Kage Bunshin and hopped into his Kamui dimension to join them.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the spot where he'd left his students in disbelief. The instant Kakashi's opponent had revealed himself to be a Shadow Clone, he'd run back to where he'd left his kids unguarded. There were signs of a short struggle, but no signs of his students themselves.

The fact that there was a complete lack of copious amounts of blood, or worse, bodies gave him some small measure of hope. If they'd been captured alive, there was always the possibility of tracking them down and bringing them back.

With a course of action decided, Kakashi summoned his ninken and set them to tracking down his students and their kidnapper. The trail swiftly disappeared in the same clearing where it had first appeared, and not because his students' kidnapper had pulled a rookie move like dropping a scent bomb whose smell they would end up trailing behind them as they fled. The scent just abruptly disappeared at a point near where Kakashi had left his students, as if his students and their kidnapper whom Pakkun swore smelled very familiar had vanished from the world entirely.

He should've known something like this would happen. Every time he had something good in his life, it got taken away from him after he'd had it just long enough to appreciate it. He should've known that his Genin team would've been the same.

Wanting to break down crying right there and knowing he couldn't for many reasons, Kakashi did the only thing he could do as a shinobi of the leaf at that moment, which was to report the disappearance of his team back to Konoha.

* * *

Two days after the kidnapping of the underage portion of Team 7, Obito found that he had absolutely no idea what to do with the brats. Truth was, he hadn't thought any further than taking the kids from Kakashi out of spite because they were Kakashi's. Now that he had the kids whom he'd impulsively decided to take...

 _What do you_ _ **do**_ _with a Genin team?_ Obito thought to himself once again as he checked to make sure that the gag that kept the loudmouthed Kyuubi Jinchuriki silent wasn't about to work its way loose again. That yelling was bringing up memories best left forgotten.

As he was reaching the point where he was half tempted to just turn the brats loose and return them because he absolutely could not think of a single thing to do with them other than either A) using the as of now inexperienced Akatsuki who've only been briefed on the process to extract the Kyuubi early, possibly causing problems since there was no telling how the Gedo Mazo would react to having the most powerful of the Biju being put into it first without prior testing of the process using a weaker Biju, and kill the rest, or B) keeping the brats tied up and using them as furniture, Obito felt a familiar presence behind them.

"That was fast." Obito said, using his Madara voice. "I wasn't expecting you for at least another day."

Itachi simply stood there silently, trying to glare a hole in his back with his Mangekyo Sharingan. Fortunately for Obito, Itachi's Sharingan didn't have that ability. It did however have the ability to shoot unquenchable black flames that you had to seal away in a scroll before they burned everything under them to the bedrock, and Obito knew he had to start talking quick before he ended up being forced to dodge those.

"As you can see, your brother is unharmed and I haven't said a single word to him, as footstool number two can attest." Obito said.

Footstool #2 however was too busy glaring at Itachi with his newly awakened sharingan and screaming obscenities as he tried to get free of his bonds so he could attack his older brother.

"Our arrangement..." Itachi started.

"Was that I would neither physically harm your brother nor speak to him." Obito replied in his Madara voice which, if not intimidated Itachi, at least caused him to have some modicum of respect for him. "Which reminds me...You! Pink haired thing! Tell Fugaku's spawn to shut up or I'll put him back under the genjutsu again."

Itachi made a threatening move.

"Do I need to remind you of the _**other**_ part of our little arrangement? Sasuke is safe and sound right here, and will continue to be, unless..." Obito said, heading off a fight that he would win, costing himself in the long run when the other Akatsuki saw him struggle for said win and figured out that he wasn't THE Uchiha Madara, or that if he was, he was no-longer at the top of his game, and therefore killable.

Itachi backed down and turned to leave. For now. While he was uncertain that he would win the fight and feared he might get Sasuke killed in the process.

"You wouldn't happen to know what to do with a team of Genin would you?" Obito found himself asking as Itachi departed, still uncertain as to what to do with the brats he'd impulsively taken and wanting an outside opinion on the situation.

"Put them back where they came from." Itachi said. "You remember what happened the one time that Hashirama made the mistake of giving you a team."

Obito snickered as he remembered the story of what happened to Madara's Genin team, which Itachi had likely thrown out there as yet another test of his identity. That story had been passed down the Uchiha line for generations. Long story short, it had ended with an S-ranked mission that had left three twelve year-olds who were forced to retire from the shinobi forces because they were too shaken to continue traumatized for life.

"You know, I had almost forgotten about those three..." Obito said as if he were reminiscing. Well, he technically was reminiscing. Reminiscing about the story he'd been told by one of the elderly members of his clan who'd decided to pass down the tale of Madara's lack of understanding regarding what constituted a "skill appropriate mission".

There were utterly insane missing-nin who could do a better job of training the next generation of Shinobi than Madara had been proven able to. Heck, even he could train shinobi better than Madara could and he had absolutely no experience in that area.

And, he had a ready-made Genin team sitting there waiting to soak up the wisdom of their elders right there in front of him, come to think of it. A Genin team that he knew Kakash had valued and had desired to train himself. Which Kakashi couldn't do while he had them. And, wouldn't it be excellent revenge if he managed to train them way better than that jerk Kakashi could?

So...Why not?

Thanks to his time controlling the Mizukage, he knew it was perfectly legal. All you had to do was fill out the correct paperwork, keep their original village from taking them back, and keep the Genin themselves from killing you in your sleep and running off.

Easy peasy.

* * *

"You want what?!" Pein asked for the third time. His brain having failed to process the request the first two times he'd received it.

"Three Amegakure hitai-ate, the legalization of my theft of a Genin team, and my being commissioned as their Jounin Instructor." Obito repeated, failing to mention that he was technically a Chunin, and therefore, should he get his request, Pein would've promoted him.

"Fine." Pein said when the request finally computed. That was the only answer he really could give considering who was asking. "I don't even want to know..."


	2. To Ame! Then, To Konoha!

"You have got to be shitting me!" Pein said when Obito returned two weeks after his initial request in order to make another one.

"Are you even aware of where the Chunin Exams are taking place?!" Pein exclaimed, uncharacteristically loudly for the normally stoic man.

"Yes." Obito said in a tone that was making it clear that the point wasn't up for argument.

What he'd requested was almost certainly 100% inadvisable, but he'd been getting impatient. The team he'd taken on was getting on his nerves, and he'd been tempted to extract the Kyuubi from Naruto and have done with it on multiple occasions. But, he wanted Kakashi who'd been running himself ragged chasing after every lead to see who had his students and had done a much better job of training his students in the few short weeks that he'd had them than Kakashi had in the months he'd had them. He wanted Kakashi to see before he finally extracted the Kyuubi from Naruto, killed the pink haired fangirl for NOT BEING RIN, and tossed his younger cousin to Itachi to do whatever the hell he wanted with him. Be it further scarring him or giving him a hug and apologizing to him. Which would likely further scar Sasuke now that he came to think of it.

"Fine. Whatever. Just make sure they don't embarrass our village." Pein said, once again regretting his decision to follow Madara.

"Yes!" Obito yelled, punching the air. "Thank you leader-sama! Tobi's going to show the whole world what a good sensei he is!"

"Those poor kids." Pein said as he watched Obito run out of the room, still going through his "Tobi" routine.

* * *

The Hokage's council of advisors was uncertain whether or not they should be panicking. On the one hand, Sasuke had completely vanished during his first C-ranked mission and there hadn't been a trace of him since. On the other hand, there were no reports of Konoha's darker secrets hitting the black market despite the fact that Sasuke was missing and Itachi was still alive.

"Do you think he knows something we don't?" Koharu asked the Hokage as they held yet another meeting on the subject of Konoha's missing Team 7.

"I don't see how he can, considering that according to the last intel report, Sasuke hasn't been spotted in his company." The Hokage replied.

"Maybe he stashed him somewhere." Homura said.

"But what about the other two?" Danzo asked. "May I remind you that our Jinchuriki is missing, and that he is worth ten-thousand of that Sasuke brat. His value on the black market alone..."

"Sorry to interrupt." An administrative desk Chunin said, not looking the least bit sorry for having interrupted Shimura Danzo. "But, we've received another missive from Amegakure."

The Chunin then crossed into the room and set said letter down on the Hokage's desk. Since the discussion that the Chunin had interrupted had been going in circles like the last ten meetings on the subject had and the Hokage wanted something productive to do while progress on that matter was stalled, Hiruzen opened the letter from Amegakure.

"Odd." the Sandaime Hokage said once he'd finished reading.

"What's odd?" Danzo asked, wondering if some of the crap he'd pulled in that little jerkwater country had come back to bite him in the ass.

"Ame has revised the number of Genin they're sending to the Chunin Exam from 21 to 24 despite the fact that foreign teams are usually set well in advance, and the only explanation they have for this sudden change is that the existence of the extra team is perfectly legal according to precedent set by Senju Hahsirama himself and that the proper paperwork has already been filled out and filed in Amegakure." the Hokage replied.

"That is odd." Danzo replied. "I don't recall the Shodai Hokage ever having added an extra team to the exam roster after it's been set."

* * *

"Helloooooooooo my little Genin!" a voice that Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had learned to dread called out.

Most of the time, the owner of that voice would be silly and cheerful, but sometimes he would take on a much darker tone, and none of them knew which was worse. When he was being silly, it was obvious that he was toying with them and he and they knew it and there was nothing they could do about it if he decided to pretend he was their kind and caring Jounin sensei and they his students. When he was serious, it always signalled more pain then usual and the feeling that the man may be just barely holding himself back from doing far worse to them than he already was.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled as he dodged the figure that came at him with a flying kick.

The three of them had managed to make it as far as the plains near the Fire Country border this time, but that was likely because their captor who kept insisting they call him "Sensei" had been off doing something else and had forgotten about them for a few hours. It didn't matter how far they got from Ame though, because their "teacher" would always find them and drag them back for "training".

"I see that my precious students have improved!" the team's captor said as Sakura barely managed to dodge the kick that was aimed at their head. A kick that Sakura would've completely failed to dodge the week before.

Their captor seemed to have it out for Sakura for some reason. Well, he seemed to have it out for all of them to be honest, but he seemed to hate Sakura the most.

"I see that my precious little Genin aren't wearing their headbands like they should be." the team's catpor said in a faux sweet tone.

Naruto growled at this. There was one thing that he'd never forgive his captor for, and that was the disappearance of the Konoha headband that Iruka-sensei had given him when he'd graduated. When he'd woken up on the third day of his captivity, it had been to find that Iruka's headband was gone and had been replaced by one marking him as a ninja of Amegakure.

That's when the hell really started.

While they'd been fitfully sleeping, fearing what would happen to them at the hands of a man who had Uchiha freaking Itachi backing down, which had made Sasuke who'd explained things to them really nervous, their captor had somehow gotten them enlisted in the ninja forces of a foreign shinobi village, and arranged for "training" for the team which included a rotating list of Amegakure shinobi who had been recruited to "spar" with Sasuke and actual D-ranked missions that their captor had dragged them to and made sure they completed. Being the good Konoha shinobi they were, they had tried to escape at every opportunity, but their captor had always found them before they could get very far and always brought them back.

Sasuke had started becoming inured to the genjutsu that their captor had used to incapacitate him the first time and several times after, and their captor had noticed, spent several minutes exclaiming how proud of his "little student" he was and started using an even _worse_ one. Naruto didn't know what either genjutsu had consisted of, but Sasuke had woken up with screaming nightmares on the few nights he'd managed to sleep for more than a handful of minutes at a time. There were now dark and heavy bags under Sasuke's eyes and he'd taken to twitching at any and every sudden movement or loud noise.

Seeing that their captor was taking things too far with Sakura again and had booted her about a dozen yards, Naruto jumped into the fray, hoping to distract him before he did worse to the pink-haired girl. Every time Sasuke tried to jump in, the man would simply phase through him like he wasn't there at all and continue what he'd been doing.

"Oh, aren't you just the most _adorable_!" the team's captor practically squeed as two of Naruto's Kage Bunshin joined the fight, unable to land a single blow on the man who had landed several on Naruto in such a way that it made it clear that he was playing around with him and not taking the fight at all seriously. "You're almost as cute as you were the day you were born!"

That was another thing. For the last two weeks and change, the man had been hinting that he knew more about Naruto and _that night_ than anyone else did. That he knew who Naruto's parents were despite the fact that nobody knew because he was a foundling who had been found in the destruction caused by the Kyuubi on the night of the Kyuubi attack. A foundling who'd been, as it turned out, used by the Yondaime to seal the Kyuubi in in order to save the village.

When their captor wasn't making dark hints about his past, the man was asking him why he wanted to go back to a village that despised him when he could stay right here and make a name for himself in a village where he wasn't hated and would be respected. Part of him was tempted to stay, especially when he'd wandered through Amegakure during his teams missions and their million and one escape attempts and not received _that look_ even once. But, he'd remember all of the precious people he'd left behind in Konoha and remember why he had to get back and feel ashamed of himself for even spending a half second thinking about staying in Ame. He couldn't let the Old Man, Kakashi-Sensei, Iruka-Sensei and Konohamaru down. Not after everything he'd gone through to have them in his life.

Despite the fact that he knew it was futile and that it would end like it had the last hundred times he had, Naruto fought his captor. Before Naruto could even figure out what was happening, his captor had made an unexpected move and somehow managed to maneuver him into a position that was an almost bridal style carry except for the kunai that was held in the hand of the arm that was supporting his shoulders. A kunai that was pressed firmly against his throat, keeping him from squirming too much.

"You know, I held you just like this when you were only a minute old!" Naruto's captor said, a little too cheerfully for the situation at hand.

"Now that we're done playing, we need to go back to the village to prepare." Naruto's captor who still held him with a kunai pressed to his throat said, his cheerful tone not dropping in the slightest despite the situation.

"Prepare? Prepare for what?" Sakura, who was looking slightly concussed, asked.

"Why, the Chunin exams of course!" the team's captor exclaimed. "You didn't think that I would let my precious little students languish as Genin forever did you?"

All three Genin looked stunned at this announcement. Even Naruto who was forced to sit still and think for once as he tried to figure out how to escape from his captor's grip without getting his throat slit.

"Now that that's settled," their captor said. "To Ame, then to Konoha!"

All three Genin's jaws dropped in shock at this exclamation.

"Why?" Sasuke said when he found his voice.

"Because I want to watch the show!" their captor exclaimed cheerfully. "I hear that it's going to be very fun this year!"

The one thing Naruto found himself thinking while his captor carried him all the way back to Ame was _What will everybody say if they see us like this?_

Traitors were never well received, and people would think they were traitors if they came home wearing the symbol of another village.

* * *

 **Omake:**

Hashirama sighed sadly as he watched the Jounin from the newly formed village of Kumogakure mistreat his students. Coming to a decision, the Shodai Hokage, founder of the first of the ninja villages leapt from the bushes, knocked the Jounin down like he were an inexperienced Genin, and scooped up all three of the children that the man had been screaming at and hitting only moments before.

"Hey!" the Jounin yelled, momentarily forgetting exactly who he was talking to. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm stealing your students." Hashirama replied as he used his Mokuton abilities to create a carry basket for said squirming students for quicker transport.

"You can't do that!" the Jounin exclaimed.

"If I can hold them, I can keep them, and there's quite honestly nothing you can do about it." Hashirama replied.

Deciding that this was another one of those "Might makes the rules and everyone else just deals with it" situations, the Jounin who knew he was no match for Senju freaking Hashirama decided that the best course of action would be to head back to Kumo and report this latest development to the Shodai Raikage.

"Welcome to your first day of life as shinobi of the Leaf kids!" Hashirama exclaimed as he bounced away with a large basket containing three very freaked out Genin slung over his shoulder. "I'll get the paperwork sorted out as soon as we get home."

"But, I don't wanna be a leaf ninja!" one of the kids exclaimed the second he found his voice.


	3. Home, Yet Not Home

"Oh, don't you look smart!" Team 7's captor said as Naruto modeled the new outfit that the man had gotten him for the Chunin Exams that he was apparently very serious about despite how utterly insane it was and despite the fact that it would be far easier for the team to escape in their home territory.

It wasn't like the man, however powerful he was, could tear through the entire village just to get them back now, was it?

The jacket of this outfit was mainly orange like his previous jacket, but it was more form fitting, meaning there was no room to grow into it or escape from it if need be. The trousers on the other hand were blue, the same shade of blue as the blue highlights on the jacket collar and sleeve cuffs, and they too were closer fitting than he would've liked. Rather than the Konoha spiral that he was used to on the back of the jacket, there was an entirely different spiral that had set Sasuke to frowning for some reason. To complete the outfit, there was an orange rain cloak with blue trim that had a spiral that was identical to the one on the back of the jacket on it.

Sasuke had been handed a new and clean version of what looked like his usual wear except for the fact that his white shorts had been replaced with black trousers. The Uchiha ensemble was topped off with a rain poncho decorated with mini uchiwa that looked like it was large enough to be a hand-me-down from Itachi.

Sakura...

The team's captor had looked over at Sakura, said "I have to get something for you too, don't I?" vanished, returned, and threw a grey long-sleeved tee and a pair of grey shinobi slacks and a grey rain cloak at her. All of which were completely the wrong size.

"Now that we're ready, we're going to have to hurry to Konoha or we'll be late!" the team's captor said the second Sakura come from behind the changing screen angrily tugging at the sleeves of her shirt which were a couple inches too short and glaring at the rolled up legs of her trousers and the hem of the cloak which only came down to her knees as she did so.

With that said, the team's captor summoned two Kage Bunshin and their captor and Kage Bunshins each grabbed a member of Team 7 and disappeared with them. When the team reappeared, they almost couldn't believe what they were seeing after so long. There, only a short distance away, were a pair of gates they'd begun to think they'd never see again.

Forgetting their aches, pains, and utter exhaustion, the three children untied and threw away the Amegakure hitai-ate their captor had forced them to wear and started running forward, towards home.

As they reached the open main gate, the Chunin manning the entry desk had to physically stop them from entering the village without checking in, so focused they were on getting themselves lost in the one place they'd called home throughout their entire lives.

"Oh look!" a high-pitched voice exclaimed behind them. "Tobi's students are so eager to start the Chunin Exams that they forgot their sensei!"

All three children froze. In those moments when they were reveling in the feeling of being home, they had begun to think of their captor as a bad dream that they could put behind them while they returned to their waking lives. That wasn't the case however. Their captor was their hellish, nightmarish waking reality.

"Amegakure's Team Four checking in!" the man who had told the Gate Chunin his name was Tobi chirruped cheerfully as he handed a sheaf of forms to one of the usually bored looking men who wasn't looking so bored now.

"Your...Your paperwork seems to be in order." the man said with an incredulous look on his face as he examined the paperwork.

"There's the small matter that these three happen to be Konoha shinobi however." The man's partner said as he moved into a fighting stance.

"No they aren't!" "Tobi" said cheerfully as he held up three Amegakure headbands.

The two Chunin looked at the hitai-ate, then back at the trio of Genin, then back at the hitai-ate, then back at one of the Genin in particular. Naruto found himself almost automatically scowling as the two men whom he vaguely recalled as being not actively hostile towards him under normal circumstances gave him _that look_ with interest.

"It wasn't my fault!" Naruto snapped. "He kidnapped all of us, dragged us to Ame, and then tied those on us and started calling us his students!"

"Still, we're going to have to take you into custody in order to get to the bottom of this...Matter." one of the Gate Chunin said as his partner discreetly signalled for the ANBU backup that were discreetly hidden on the rooftops of the buildings closest to the village gates.

"But, wouldn't that cause a diplomatic incident?" the man who'd called himself "Tobi" said, giving an exaggerated show of "considering" the situation. "I heard that arresting visiting shinobi who haven't committed a crime is a big no-no during the Chunin Exams."

"But, these aren't visiting shinobi, they're..." The Gate Chunin on the left started.

"Duly registered Amegakure shinobi according to the laws laid down by the Shodai Hokage himself." "Tobi" said a little too cheerfully as he pulled what looked suspiciously like a book of shinobi law out of one of his pockets, flipped to a certain page and held it up. "Precedent was set 62 years ago when Senju Hashirama himself confiscated a team of Genin from Kumogakure."

One of the ANBU who were standing at the ready but hadn't yet made an aggressive move mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Fucking Rules Lawyer".

"Can me and my team go now?" the man called "Tobi" asked in a most childlike tone.

"Fine." one of the Gate Chunin spat. "But, don't leave the village while the Chunin Exams are in progress and don't wander beyond the areas marked on the map that was provided with the Exam packet. If you do, we have every right to arrest and interrogate you and your _students._ "

"Yay!" the man called "Tobi" cheered.

"Come my precious little Genin, we have a Chunin exam to so totally win and Sasuke needs sleep so he doesn't do something totally lame like collapse during the first phase." the man who called himself Tobi called before running towards the village's center.

"Considering the fact that the residential areas your homes are in are off limits, you had better follow him." the second Gate Chunin said coldly as the ANBU returned to their posts, pointing in the direction of the man who had kidnapped them from their rightful sensei and forcibly held them far from home before dragging them back under the flag of another village.

"Like hell we will!" Naruto yelled before turning and storming off in the opposite direction from the one in which "Tobi" had gone.

"Naruto, where are you going?" Sakura asked as she started trailing after him, and Sasuke after her.

"Don't know, don't care. I'll sleep on the street if I have to, but there's no way in hell I'm going to go running around my own village pretending to be a foreign ninja and that that man is my sensei!" Naruto said, growing more passionate with each word and catching the attention of several startled passers-by.

It was at that moment that "Tobi" jumped off a nearby roof and dropped down in front of them.

"I almost forgot." the man who called himself Tobi said childishly. "You're gonna hafta put these on before you get mistaken for spies and dragged to the T & I Department for a little torture and interrogation."

"Tobi" held out the three hitai-ate that the children had discarded on their way into Konoha.

"I'm not wearing that!" Naruto yelled, loudly summing up what the rest of the team was feeling.

Rather than letting Naruto build up steam, "Tobi" grabbed Naruto like he was an unruly toddler and tied the hitai-ate onto the forehead of the boy who futilely struggled against his captor the entire time. Eventually, the headband was tied, and the man turned Naruto around to face him.

"There!" the man called "Tobi" said as if he was talking to a child that was nine years younger than the boy in front of him. "Now you look like a real ninja. Your father would be...Utterly horrified come to think of it, considering he gave his life for Konoha."

"Oh well." the man called "Tobi" said, patting the head of the boy who stood in front of him frozen in shock by that revelation. "It's not like anyone ever really thanked him for his sacrifice. Too busy spitting on his son to do so if I recall correctly."

The villagers who had stopped to watch the little bit of ninja street theater only just had enough time to look shocked and a bit considering as "Tobi" spun away from the now scowling boy who had managed to get over his surprise and was trying to pull off the Amegakure headband and cheerfully said "You next Sasuke, then you Sakura!"

Sasuke's response to this was to start the handsigns for the Gokakyu no jutsu.

"Just so you know Sasuke, these are Fireproof." "Tobi" said cheerfully. "Can't have my precious students ruining their shiny new Amegakure headbands during practice now, can I?"

The fireball that the civilians and some shinobi scattered away from passed straight through Tobi who reappeared behind Sasuke and tied the second of the three Amegakure hitai-ate around his forehead while a quick thinking Chunin put out the roaring ball of flaming death before it caused any significant damage.

"Oi!" the ninja called out angrily once the flames were put out. "I don't know how they do things in Amegakure but you damn well should know the rules here! No ninjutsu in the street!"

Before Sakura could yell or struggle, she felt a hitai-ate being tied around her own forehead. Knowing what emblem was on it without even touching it, she bowed her head in shame and anger, knowing that honor had demanded that she should kill herself before things got this far and that she was far too much of a coward to do so. Because she was a coward, she was standing in her own village wearing the emblem of a foreign village, bringing even more shame upon herself, her team, and her family every second she did so. Standing there, unable to move, even to remove the headband, she could hear shocked whispers of "Kizashi and Meibuki's daughter".

"Come my precious students!" the man who had ruined her life and put her in this horrific situation that she never would've imagined herself in before she'd experienced it exclaimed. "We have to find someplace to stay while we wait for the Chunin Exams to start!"

With that, "Tobi" grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her along behind him. As she heard the whispers and felt the cold glares and the Killing Intent, she knew that the only thing that was keeping the gathering crowd that surrounded them from tearing her and her team apart was the knowledge of what would happen to those who attacked "foreign" shinobi during the Chunin Exams.

While those participating in the exams could attack each-other, the punishment for those in the host village who attack outside contestants in the exams was...dire to say the least. It had to be considering the fact that foreign shinobi were trusting the host village with their children's safety, and the favor given them would be returned when the exams came to their village and it was the Konoha Chunin Candidates' turns to be the visiting shinobi. All attacks could also be repaid in kind as well. And, if a village thought itself in a strong enough position, there could be a declaration of war on the host Kage's desk before the day was out should one of their Genin be attacked during the Chunin Exams.

As she was dragged along behind her kidnapper, Sakura felt her heart break a little more each time she heard a growl of "...Did it to save their pathetic little hides." come from a shinobi that used to nod at her on the street when they encountered each-other after she'd graduated.

She had no idea how Sasuke could trail after them so quietly like he didn't care. So utterly unlike Naruto who was putting up a fight every step of the way.

* * *

Kakashi paused to wash down a soldier pill with a gulp of water. There was no time to stop. No time to rest. Every second spent on anything other than searching could be that critical second when...

As he prepared to push his exhausted body one more mile and then another and then another until he reached the hamlet where a blond boy matching Naruto's description had been spotted, a toad appeared and vomited up a letter.

First, there was shock, then relief, then dismay.

Naruto had been found. His entire team had been found, and it was BAD.

Had his precious students died, had his students been murdered most horribly, it would've been better than...than...This.

Even if they hadn't willingly betrayed the village, even if Konoha found a way to free them from their captor and return them to where they belonged, there was no coming back from...This.

Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage had died the minute that bastard had kidnapped him. Minato's son would never be allowed to wear the hat, no matter how skilled or powerful he became, not matter how great a leader he became, no matter how often he swore his loyalty to Konoha.

Nobody would trust Naruto or the rest of the team now. Nobody would want to work with them. Not after...This.

That, and the only way to regain any of their lost honor now would be to...

The only real options his students had now would be to...Or to leave Konoha forever never to return the minute their part in the Chunin Exams which their kidnapper had entered them into as a sick joke ended and remain in Amegakure for the rest of their lives.

The problem was, Konoha would never let their Jinchuriki or the Last of the Uchiha Besides Itachi leave. Nor could Konoha afford to allow either boy to do what it took to regain their lost honor considering how valuable they were alive. There was pretty much literally no-one who could hold the Kyuubi besides Naruto thanks to the fact that the Uzumaki clan had been broken and scattered long ago.


	4. Hiya Shrimp! You've Grown!

The Hokage sat in front of his crystal ball watching mournfully as the masked stranger from Amegakure led Hatake Kakashi's Genin team to a local boarding house that was known to put up foreign shinobi during the Chunin Exams. Danzo, who was usually the sort to join in with Koharu and Homura when they demanded that he ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING, stood strangely silent. His lone eye was flicking over the scene, drinking in every detail. Jiraiya, who stood on the Hokage's right, watched as well until a familiar looking crow flew into the window and spat up a small scroll.

Jiraiya popped open the scroll and winced.

"What is it?" Sarutobi Hiruzen and his teammates/advisors asked in unison, proving they were a touch more similar than they usually let on.

"Got a really rare warning from a certain agent. Told us to back off because the one who snatched Minato's student's students is a top shelf, near-immortal, S-Class missing-nin who's fucking with us because he knows he can get away with it." Jiraiya replied. "Certainly responsible for at least one Kyuubi attack, reputedly responsible for the Vally of the End, and able to single-handedly destroy Konoha without the assistance of the Kyuubi if it should come down to it."

"Are you telling us that Uchiha Madara was the one who stole Sasuke and Naruto?" The Hokage asked incredulously.

"Either that, or a Uchiha who has done a very credible job of posing as him. Credible enough that people who've met this Madara are willing to believe it's him and are scared shitless of him." Jiraiya replied.

"That explains how Hatake's team was taken from him so easily." one of the Councilors who'd been blaming Kakashi for having lost his students up until then said. "Hatake Kakashi is a High A bordering on S-Class, but he isn't S-Class."

"Order everyone to avoid antagonizing that team and to keep their distance for now." the Sandaime replied. "The last thing we need is Uchiha Madara or someone who is just as good as deciding that Konoha needs a little redecorating with ninjutsu. That, and as long as he's amusing himself by pretending Naruto is his student, he isn't doing things like breaking open a certain seal and setting the Kyuubi loose on Konoha."

"You know that nobody is going to take those children's defections lightly. Especially not their former classmates who I may remind you are all participating in the Chunin Exams." Danzo replied.

"I know." the Sandaime sighed, knowing full well that children, like Team 7's former classmates who'd grown up with them for instance, had great difficulty divorcing their emotions from the situation. The were many fully trained adults who had the same difficulty as well.

"There's also the small matter of what we're going to do about those children should any of them actually manage to survive whatever game their kidnapper is playing." Homura added.

"I've taken some steps to protect their careers. Which is about all we can do at this point." the Hokage replied, knowing what his former teammate was getting at since he'd known him almost his entire 68 years and cutting him off at the pass before he started bringing up the specter of a supposedly disbanded project that went by the name of Root. "I have them listed down as being on a long-term infiltration mission. While there will be many who will suspect otherwise, nobody will be able to prove that those three weren't planted in Amegakure in order to get information on the notoriously reclusive village that no Konoha nin has been able to enter in over a decade."

"You are entirely too soft and trusting Hiruzen." Koharu said.

"I may be, but Hashirama also had a soft side, and it was his willingness to trust the Uchiha that led to the founding of Konoha in the first place." the Sandaime countered.

"And, we all know where that led." Danzo darkly reminded him.

* * *

"We're here!" Team 7's captor shouted cheerfully as he stopped in front of a boarding house that was run by a mean old lady who'd always looked at least twice as old as the village to Naruto's young eyes.

"We'll have to get ourselves situated quickly because Sasuke needs sleep." Team 7's captor said as he headed to the front door of a building Naruto had never set foot inside out of fear of its owner.

"So, we're back to that again." Sasuke grumbled. "Still pretending not to talk to me even though you just did five minutes ago, despite whatever promise you made to _that bastard_."

"Oh," "Tobi" said. "So, Sasuke would like to see Tobi break the _rest_ of his promise to Itachi-kun, would he? Tobi wonders which of Sasuke's little school friends Sasuke would like to see die first when Tobi destroys this village."

Sasuke stiffened as he began to realize that whatever "Tobi" had promised Itachi, it was probably the only thing keeping him and everyone around him alive and unharmed. However bad Itachi was, however insane Itachi was, this "Tobi" character was far, far, worse.

"Sasuke's lying!" Naruto quickly yelled. "I never heard you say one word to Sasuke! You never broke your promise, so you don't need to...to..."

"Don't worry little Jinchuriki-kun. Tobi won't break your seal in the middle of Konoha. Tobi's a good boy and he always keeps his promises and Tobi absolutely loves his little student!" the man who called himself "Tobi" said cheerfully, yanking Naruto in for a hug that kept his arms pinned in a position that prevented Naruto from reaching into the kunai pouch that was strapped to the man's leg and grabbing a weapon from it.

Sasuke and Sakura didn't fail to notice how everyone on the street froze and rapidly paled or that there was absolute terror in the eyes of all, including those of a battle-scarred Jounin who had been about to walk into a local pharmacy which was located directly across from the boarding house.

"Welp, time to go inside so Sasuke can get his beauty sleep!" the man who called himself "Tobi" said, as if he hadn't noticed everyone's reactions to what he had said.

"Uh,...Um...Sir?" Sakura asked, finally finding her voice.

"Sakura-chan," Team 7's captor said, an edge of something undercutting the sweetness of his tone. "Tobi is certain that Tobi has asked you to call him sensei. Tobi is certain that he's asked you lots of times."

"S...Sensei, why are we staying at a boarding house and not an inn?" Sakura finally asked.

"Because Tobi is certain that Tobi and his lovely students will be staying in Konoha for a month." the man who called himself "Tobi" replied, an undercurrent of promise that horrible things would happen if the team didn't stay in Konoha for the month that he was anticipating lacing his tone.

None of "Tobi"'s "students" were looking forward to the prospect. On top of spending an entire month with "Tobi" thanks to the rules governing the Chunin Exams, there was the prospect of spending an entire month in their own village wearing the symbol of a foreign village and all that came with it. Even Sasuke, who normally didn't care about the people around him and what they thought of him wasn't looking forward to the prospect. Though his thoughts centered more on what his clan would've thought if they could see him now than how the villagers who had been entirely too cloying since he'd become an orphan would start treating him.

* * *

"Man, I can't believe you knocked him out." one of the members of the team that had been sent out to search for Team 7 alongside Hatake Kakashi said to the man who was carrying said Hatake who was completely unconscious at the moment.

"I can't believe that Kakashi got so far gone that I could knock him out." Tenzo replied primly.

"Considering what's waiting for him back in Konoha, he's definitely not going to be a happy camper when he wakes up." the first man replied, severely understating things.

"We can only hope that he'll save it for the man who took his students." Tenzo replied.

* * *

Umino Iruka couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way that Naruto could've defected. Not now, after Naruto had refused to defect after the one damning secret that had been hidden from him for his entire life had been revealed to him. Not now when Naruto was finally something approaching happy and actually had friends rather than people who would let him tag along with him during their own rulebreaking. Not now. Maybe in the past, but not now.

Deciding that he had to see for himself, Iruka went to the place that rumor, rumor that was being spread through the normally reliable shinobi rumor mill, stated that Naruto and his team were staying with their mysterious "sensei" whom the village shinobi had been discreetly ordered to keep well back from. Being a shinobi, and not, well, Naruto, Iruka calmly and quietly walked into the front door of Ogawa Katoki's boarding house and stated that he was visiting some of the residents rather than storming in and demanding answers. Naruto, Sakura, and a complete stranger dressed in black aside from an orange spiral mask with a single eyehole and a long green scarf who was somehow drinking tea through said sold looking mask were seated in the main dining area of the boarding house.

Both Naruto and Sakura were wearing Amegakure Hitai-ate rather than their Konoha ones. Neither child looked happy about the situation they were in. Deciding to test the reactions of his former students whom he'd known for years to see what it would tell him about the apparent defections of a pair of students he would've been willing to bet his life were completely loyal to Konoha only a week before, he steped more fully into the doorway of the dining area, allowing his former students to see him. Sakura, upon spotting him, looked like she wanted to curl up and die from the shame he was experiencing. There was an utterly bleak look in her eyes as she faced someone who was more than a passing acquaintence for what looked like the first time since she'd gotten back to Konoha only a couple hours before. Naruto however, Naruto looked hopeful as he held up the Konoha handsign for kidnapped, proving for the first time that he knew more than just the rude ones. It was almost as if Naruto had expected him to rescue him despite the fact that he hadn't been able to save the boy from danger since that cock up that had served as Naruto's graduation.

Whether or not he'd been pretending not to notice him, Naruto and Sakura's captor whirled around to see what Naruto and Sakura had been looking at as if he hadn't been aware of Iruka's presence previous. The man's body language expressed surprise for a second before he sprung up from his seat at the low traditional table and walked over until he stood within arm's reach of Iruka, his body language both simultaneously threatening and amused.

"Hiya squirt! You've grown!" the man who was clearly holding Naruto and his teammates against their will exclaimed as he reached out and attempted to muss Iruka's hair like he was a small child, Iruka's normal ponytail just barely managing to hold.

As Iruka backed up, instinctively pulling and raising a weapon as he did so, he found himself thinking about how the only person who used to do that to him outside of his family had died when he was eight.

"Oh, look! You want to play ninja." the foreign shinobi said, speaking to him as if he were a child. "I guess it'll be even more fun now you're a real ninja and not a little Academy brat playing with paper shuriken!"

The man vanished before Iruka could react, and before he could turn to face the presence he almost immediately felt behind him, a hard kick to his back sent him sprawling on the floor. Before he could rise, he felt the weight of the foreign shinobi on his back. As he raised his kunai to strike backwards, one of the sandalled feet that had been planted in his back stomped down on his wrist, hard, and kept stomping until he was finally forced to drop his weapon, convinced that several bones in his hand and wrist were broken.

"Hmmm." the foreign shinobi said in a false considering tone that seemed strangely familiar. "That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be."

"You've still got a long way to go before you can beat me shrimp!" the man continued as he sat down on Iruka's back, apparently completely unconcerned about any retalitory strikes Iruka might launch despite his injured hand.

As the man sat there, Iruka found himself flashing back to a to a time when a small squirming boy he used to be back before the Kyuubi, back before...Everything, was being sat on by a laughing pre-teen Chunin who'd said the exact same thing to him every time he'd found himself in that exact same situation. Why he was remembering that long-dead Uchiha that he'd used to look up to now, after all this time, he didn't know.


End file.
